I live in Los Angeles and I'm lucky enough to write about the thing I love most: movies. I'm a graduate of Vassar College and Northwestern University and for 15 years I worked at Forbes mostly covering the entertainment industry. Although I've moved into the world of corporate journalism, I still contribute blog posts here.

'Silver Linings Playbook' And The Power Of The Slow Release

The Oscars are just a few weeks away but for the most part, Oscar-nominated movies have stalled at the box office. Lincolnhas ranked 10th or 11th for the past few weeks. Argo is now playing in fewer than 1,000 theaters and Les Miserables‘ box office has fallen 40% each weekend for the past two weeks.

The exception is Silver Linings Playbook. The film from The Weinstein Company is expected to earn another $6 million this weekend ranking it 4th, according to Exhibitor Relations. The film is nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Writing. Actress Jennifer Lawrence is considered the front runner for the Best Actress award.

How is a movie that’s been in theaters since November 16th still earning so much money? Because it’s gotten what’s known as a platform release.

A platform release is when a studio releases a movie in a few theaters (usually in New York and Los Angeles)and then slowly rolls it out to the rest of the country. It’s a common tactic for Oscar movies that are smaller and more personal and might need some good work of mouth to find an audience.

But the Silver Linings roll out has been incredibly slow. It expanded from under 1,000 theaters to 2,523 January 18th but it kept expanding after that. Last weekend the film was in 2,809 theaters, according to Box Office Mojo.

During that time the film has been earning nominations and wins from different organizations. The movie was named Movie of the Year by the American Film Institute. The Broadcast Film Critics named in Best Ensemble and Best Comedy and Lawrence won for Best Actress Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes.

The slow release schedule has also helped the film to turn a nice profit. The movie cost an estimated $20 million to make and it’s already earned $111 million. That’s a huge profit and if Silver Linings nabs some Oscars, it can expect to do even better when it goes to home video.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.